Tank:F09 AMX 50 120
AMX 50 120 001 image:AMX_50_120_002.jpg AMX 50 120 002 image:AMX_50_120_003.jpg AMX 50 120 003 image:AMX_50_120_004.jpg AMX 50 120 004 image:AMX50_120game1.jpg AMX 50 120 on map Prokhorovka image:Ingame_AMX_50_120-1.jpg AMX 50 120, Prokhorovka map |InTheGame_pros= * 4-round autoloader. * Good penetration and accuracy * Good gun depression (9 degrees) * Relatively short clip reload time compared to its predecessor * Good mobility for a heavy tank; top engine has low chance of fire (15%). * Sloped frontal armour (pike nose) can do some ricochets (very rare) |InTheGame_cons= * Extremely large and tall silhouette with very weak armor for a heavy tank * Atrocious terrain resistance * Ammo rack is prone to damage * Horrendous autoloading cycling time; other autoloaders can cycle more than 1.5 times faster. * Very vulnerable to artillery thanks to its bad terrain resistance and size. |InTheGame_performance= The AMX 50 120 can be a challenging Tier 9 to play, due to its huge size with abysmal armor and slow speed; however it is a feared and intimidating opponent, and with good reason. It wields tremendous firepower coupled with high mobility which enables it to relocate and support multiple flanks quickly, all the while enjoying an improved reload speed. It excels as an opportunity sniper, quickly unloading into unfortunate enemies, and has very high potential in flanking. The 4-round drum on the 120mm is a major advantage over the 6-round drum of the 100mm cannon mainly because it allows the AMX 50 120 to deal its potential 1600 damage much quicker and with better penetration. A reloading 50 120 can intimidate enemies in a peek-a-boo situation by simply keeping its gun trained on them. It's important to relocate to more advantageous and safer areas while reloading; don't sit around wasting time. The 120mm gun is accurate, but not as accurate as one would expect at far distances. Long-range shots tend to not go straight down the reticule. Thus, the AMX 50 120 should take the time to carefully and fully aim each shot when necessary. The 4-round drum also means that each shot counts much more and that a missed or bounced shot is a sorely wasted shot. Importantly, and even more so than the AMX 50 100, the AMX 50 120 must take caution in staying undetected and safe from arty. While the 50 120 has around twice the side and rear armor as its predecessor, 80mm is still very poor. Artillery at this tier can easily one-shot a full-health AMX 50 120 and will prioritize it as an easy kill. A 50 120 shouldn't rush or scout nearly as much as he may have in the 50 100. Very high caution must be taken as everyone hits very hard and the 50 120 is more vulnerable than ever, although the wonderfully shaped armor may auto-ricochet a lucky round or two. All in all, the AMX 50 120 is a natural evolution of the AMX 50 100's play-style, it's greatly enhanced in certain aspects. A properly-played 50 120 provides its team with extreme firepower and invaluable support. As with the 50 100, the AMX 50 120 holds tremendous potential and can greatly influence the tide of battle. |InTheGame_research= * Stock can carry all modules, but not all equipment * You get the 100mm SA47 (and 90 mm DCA 45) without any extra research from your AMX 50 100. The gun should do the trick quite a long time * First get the engine * You can also go first for the suspension, because you need it for the final gun, the 120mm SA46. Suspension gives a further boost in mobility and gives you back the playstyle of the AMX 50 100 * Then get the radio |InTheGame_equipment= Vents, Vertical Stabilizer, GLD, Camouflage Net, "Wet" Ammo Rack |History= thumb|250px|left|AMX50 120, one of the prototypes from the 1955. Note the spear shaped front hull inspired by Soviet IS-3 AMX 50 120 A third AMX 50 project was begun in August 1951. Ten preseries vehicles were to be built by DEFA (Direction des Études et Fabrications d'Armement, the state weapon design bureau), the first being delivered in 1953. The type was armed with a 120 mm gun in response to the perceived threat posed by the Soviet heavy tanks, such as the IS-3 and the T-10. To accommodate the larger gun, an enormous turret was fitted; originally planned in a conventional form, eventually it was decided to make it of the oscillating type also. Armour was increased. These changes caused a weight increase to 59.2 metric tonnes. From 1954 to 1955 this type was made even heavier, creating the surblindé version ("AMX 50 Uparmoured") with a lower turret and a higher hull with a pointed glacis like the IS-3, bringing weight to about 64 tonnes. Based on the M 4 chassis in 1950 a prototype was finished of a heavy tank destroyer in the form of a 120 mm self-propelled gun, the Canon Automoteur AMX 50 Foch, named after Marshal Ferdinand Foch. It was intended to give long range fire support to the medium AMX 50 "100 mm"; after the tank version itself was planned to be armed with a 120 mm gun, the Foch project was abandoned. AMX 50 Series development history Oscillating turret thumb|200px|left|Close up photo of a typical oscillating turret design Because there were five prototypes, it is not possible to give a description applying to all of them in detail. Weighing about fifty-five tons, the general AMX 50 project was the heaviest of a trio of French AFV designs of the postwar period (the others being the AMX-13 and the Panhard EBR) to feature an oscillating turret. The oscillating turret design, lacking a conventional gun-mantlet, is in two separate parts, with an upper and lower part connected by two hinge bolts or pivots, the gun being fixed within the upper section. The horizontal movement of the gun, traversing, is conventional, but the vertical movement, elevation, is achieved through the pivoting of the entire upper section with respect to the lower section. This method of elevation has two main advantages. Firstly it allows for a smaller turret volume, as no internal space is needed for the vertical movement of the gun breech. Secondly, it allows the use of a relatively simple auto-loader fed by multiround magazines, achieving a very high rate of fire for as long as the magazines were loaded, as the gun is also fixed with respect to the auto-loader located in the back of the upper turret, i.c. a protruding bustle. The automatic loading system worked satisfactorily when the calibre was 100 mm. After the larger 120 mm gun was introduced, reliability suffered, due to the increased weight of the rounds used. The oscillating turret was a very fashionable concept in the fifties, and also applied in some American projects, such as the T57 and T58. Only the French however, would produce operational systems. German rolemodels The hull was equipped with a torsion bar suspension designed to ensure a vehicle with good cross-country mobility. The hull and suspension recalled both the German Tiger and the Panther tanks which, having entered French service after the war, were well known and deliberately imitated. Especially the engine deck, the sprockets and the tracks are strongly reminiscent of the German design style. The nine overlapping tyred road wheels each side, were however much smaller. The French engineers had not been aware at first that the much admired German overlapping design had been motivated by a shortage of high quality rubber, necessitating large road wheels to lower tyre tension, which then were made overlapping to better distribute the load pressure. As France would have no trouble obtaining rubber of the desired quality, this feature was superfluous. Therefore the road wheels were made smaller, compared to the first design proposal, both to save weight and lower the profile of the tank, which was quite high due to a deep hull, a problem only changed in the fifth prototype. The track now had to be supported by five top rollers. The overlapping system as such was maintained in all prototypes; with smaller wheels it allowed for nine instead of the originally planned eight wheels, five forming the outer, four the inner row. thumb|200px|right|AMX 50 100 during trials. First of the AMX 50 protoypes is easily recognisable by an oscillating turret and a Panther like sloped front plate The engine and transmission system was in the rear of the vehicle with rear drive sprockets. The transmission was derived from the ZF of the Panther. The functions of final drive and steering were combined in a single assembly; for each gear two turning radii could be selected. The engine was the Maybach HL295 12 cylinder of 29.5 litres, using fuel injection combined with spark ignition. The project goal was to bring the engine output to 1200 hp, implying a very favourable hp/litre ratio of over forty. This proved to be unrealistically ambitious, given the level of technological development at the time; in reality not even a ratio of thirty was reliably attained. The hull sides were vertical, as in the case of the Tiger, while the front of the hull was in the first three prototypes evenly inclined at approximately 40 degrees from the horizontal, using sloped armour similar to that of the Panther and Tiger II. The corners between the glacis and the sides were truncated. The first two prototypes had a frontal protection level equivalent to about 120 mm "line-of-sight" thickness in the horizontal plane. The type was thus not particularly heavily armoured for its time. The weight increase with the third prototype was mainly caused by the larger turret and even in its fourth "uparmoured" form, doubling the frontal armour thickness, the AMX 50 was less well protected than its American and British competitors, themselves inferior in armour to the Soviet heavy tanks they had been created to fight. The fifth prototype used a lower cast hull, with a rounded frontal section for a better weight efficiency. Above the massive hull, there was the oscillating turret, smaller, lighter and more compact than that of the Tiger; the sloped face of the upper part had a thickness of 85 mm. In the turret rear back there was the commander's cupola, well equipped with optical equipment. The turret had an optical rangefinder. The first two prototypes had twin 7.5 mm "Reibel" machine guns placed on top of the roof as an AA-weapon, a third was coaxial. In the first design proposal for a 120 mm version, the conventional turret had a high cupola armed with both a machine gun and a 20 mm MG 151 rapid fire cannon. However the third and fourth "120 mm" oscillating turret prototypes had a single 7.5 mm AA machine gun and a second 7.5 mm coaxial machine gun. For the production vehicles it was considered to install a coaxial 20 mm gun; lighter armoured targets could then be engaged without depleting the limited ammunition stock in the turret magazines. Despite the auto-loader, the crew was four: a second man was seated in the hull, functioning as radio-operator, but mainly needed to replenish the turret magazines from the hull ammunition stocks. Jack of all trades wannabe thumb|200px|left|AMX50 120. First upguned and uparmored prototypes from the year 1955. Note the spear (IS-3 like) shaped front hull The AMX 50 as originally planned, would have been a medium, not a heavy, tank. It was supposed to be light, well armed and above all mobile. When the first two prototypes were made, low weight had already been sacrificed in favour of a high protection level, but it was still supposed to be a quite agile vehicle, in the 45 - 50 tonne weight class, with a hp/tonne ratio of over twenty. Expectations were high: as General Molinié afterwards ironically put it, it was hoped to create a tank with the protection of the Panther, the firepower of the Tiger, the mobility and abundance of the T-34, the reliability of the M4 Sherman and all that weighing less than the M26 Pershing. At that time France hoped to regain its position as a Great Power; rebuilding its armaments industry served this goal. To build an indigenous battle tank was however not merely a question of national prestige. Europe as a whole was trying to recover from the devastations caused by the war and to assert a modicum of independence towards the two superpowers, the USA and the USSR. To this end in 1948 the Treaty of Brussels was signed, which among other things was also a common defence agreement. The AMX 50, superior in armament and mobility to the existing American and British designs, was seen as the logical candidate for a common European tank, to equip the future armies of the Western European Union defence organisation. The prototypes were proudly displayed during the 1950 Bastille Day parade. Somewhat inconsequentially, it was hoped that the Americans would fund such a tank, as the financial position of the European states would not allow them to rearm. thumb|200px|right|AMX 50B 120 rear viewThat same year, the situation changed drastically due to the outbreak of the Korean War. Quickly the USA recommenced medium tank mass production, of the new M47 Patton. When this tank proved to be unsatisfactory, an even more advanced type was taken into production for the American forces, the M48 Patton; thousands of M47s were leased for free to the European allies, France included. The AMX 50 was suddenly made redundant as a medium tank, despite a "100 mm" prototype being sent in 1952 to the Aberdeen Proving Grounds for, successful, tests. Engine problems To save the project, a new rôle was found in the Soviet heavy tank threat. In the early fifties, NATO tacticians were worried by the strong armour of the Soviet vehicles, that seemed to be immune to the guns of the existing Western types. In response Britain would develop the Conqueror and the USA the M103 heavy tank; abandoning the SOMUA SM, it was decided to let the AMX 50 evolve into a comparable type, even though other French heavy tank projects were in existence, such as the Char de 70 tonnes, a sort of "AMX 70". Already having a large chassis, the AMX 50 could in principle easily be adapted to carry the desired 120 mm gun — a derivation by the Atelier du Havre of the American gun, using the same ammunition — and had the advantage of a, on paper, very powerful engine. In practice there were many obstacles. Room could in fact only be found by increasing the height of the lower turret half, negating the advantages of the oscillating concept and creating a dangerous shot trap. The "uparmoured" version, with its deeper hull and flatter turret, was specially designed to counter this and make the vehicle immune in long range fire engagements, but further increased weight. In 1955 the AMX 50 was nevertheless very close to being ordered by the French government, that expected to produce the type for the reconstituted German Army also. A production was planned of a hundred for 1956. This decision had to be delayed however, due to the fact the engine problems had not been solved: reliability could only be assured if the output was limited to 850 hp, causing a mediocre hp/tonne ratio of about 13:1. 'Delayes proved fatal ' thumb|200px|left|Seventy-ton version of the AMX 50 battle tank with a 120 mm gun and a frontal armor of 120 mm The delay proved fatal to the project. In the late fifties, swift advances in hollow charge technology led to an increased vulnerability for heavy tanks. Mobility thus gained a priority over protection and the very concept of a heavy tank became obsolete. As a result the project was changed again in intention, now trying to present itself as an agile main battle tank, with the same gun as the Conqueror but much lighter and more powerful. This failed as it was much too large and expensive; oscillating turrets also became unpopular as they were inherently difficult to protect against nuclear and chemical contamination. The engine problems with the Maybach were never overcome and lowering the hull to save weight, as was done for the final prototype, made it impossible to install a larger engine. Recognizing that the problem of combining excellent mobility with heavy armour was for the time being irresolvable, the AMX 50 project was terminated; the priority given to mobility demanded a new design concept, leading to the AMX 30, the lightest MBT of its time. Only in the early eighties would France again attempt to combine heavy armour and armament in its tank designs, beginning with the later AMX 32 prototypes. The AMX 50 would not be a complete waste of time and effort however, as much technological knowledge had been gained from which the AMX 30 would profit. In the Musée des Blindés at Saumur an AMX 50 is shown, a combination of the last cast hull and the Tourelle D. |HistoricalGallery= image:AMX 50 120 first upguned version.jpg AMX 50 120 first up-gunned version. The in-game AMX 50 120's turret is based on the turret of this tank, as seen from the image:AMX 50 120 side view.jpg Side view of the first up-gunned version of the AMX 50 120. image:AMX50 120 one of the prototypes from the 1955. Note the spear (IS-3 like) shaped front hull.jpg The second of the AMX 50 120 prototypes from 1955. This one was uparmored and had a spear (IS-3 like) shaped front hull. The tank weighed 64.7 tons, though the weight is commonly rounded up to seventy. image:Seventy-ton version of the AMX 50 battle tank with a 120 mm gun..jpg Another picture of the seventy (really 64.7) ton AMX 50 120. File:AMX_65t.jpg Plans for the AMX 65t, a related development of the AMX 50. The in-game model of the AMX 50 120 takes several features from the 65t, including its nose, engine, and suspension. File:AMX_50_120_turret_blueprint.JPG Blueprint of the TOA-120 turret, used by the first AMX 50 120. This turret is what the in-game AMX 50 120's turret is based on. |HistAcc= * The top speed of the AMX 50 120 was much slower than 65 kph - it used the same engines as the AMX 50 100 while weighing more, and the AMX 50 100 had a top speed of only 51 kph. * The hull of the second AMX 50 120 had up to 120 mm of frontal hull armor, rather than the 100 mm the tank currently has in-game. Although unconfirmed, the turret armor was likely much thicker than 100 mm as well. * The current AMX 50 120 is a hybrid between three different AMX designs - it uses a turret based on the first AMX 50 120, the hull and flanks of the seventy-ton AMX 50 120, and the nose, engine, and suspension of the AMX 65t. * The gun depression and elevation angles were -6 degrees and +13 degrees, rather than the current -9 degrees and +11 degrees. * The tank weighed about 64 tons in real life. * The 120 mm gun was known in real life as the "120 mm D.1203F" rather than the "120 mm SA 46". * The TOA-120 turret had a 6-round autoloader. |Ref_references= |Ref_sources= |Ref_links= * http://www.chars-francais.net/2015/index.php/engins-blindes/chars?task=view&id=682 Photos, specs, and brief history in French. * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMX_50 * http://tankarchives.blogspot.com/2016/03/amx-50-120-long-road-to-dead-end.html * http://warspot.ru/5135-dolgaya-doroga-v-tupik Original verison of the above article in Russian * https://thearmoredpatrol.com/2015/09/10/amx-50-turret-buff-and-o-thers/ * https://thearmoredpatrol.com/2016/08/05/review-of-the-french-tanks-part-2-tier-ix/ * Blueprint of the hull armor of the second AMX 50 120 (too big to upload on site) |Sidebar_Camostop=4.9 |Sidebar_Camomove=2.6 |Sidebar_Camofire=0.9 |Sidebar_Passhard=1.247 |Sidebar_Passmed=1.342 |Sidebar_Passsoft=2.205 |Sidebar_DispTurret=0.134 |Sidebar_DispRecoil=3.836 |Sidebar_DispAccel=0.192 |Sidebar_DispTurning=0.192 }} Category:French Tanks